Golan Heights Distillery 2015 Single Malt

I’ve had this bottle for a while now, but on account of Winter I’ve been at the smokey things in my cabinet a little more, and trying to put a dent in my very long backlog of samples, but I finally got round to it this weekend. This is the 2nd single malt release from the Golan Heights distillery here in Israel. I reviewed the first release a few months back after a long wait (it was a reward from their original crowdfunding campaign) but shortly after this one showed up and from what I understand David Zibell (the owner/distiller)’s plan is to bring these out fairly regularly.

This one differs from the first in that it was matured in an ex-Golani Black cask. Golani being the young wheat & barley blend that the distillery puts out, the black version matured in charred new oak. The first release was matured in a first fill red wine cask so this should be quite different, and should also show off the spirit a little more. Again some of the bottles from the cask were released at cask strength and some at 46% ABV.

This is what I was expecting, more reserved and spirit centric than the first release. It’s a nice contrast because this will appeal to those who aren’t such fans of wine cask maturation. It also gives us a chance to get to know the single malt a little more, from a different angle.

Personally, I did prefer the first release a little more, but I’m a fan of both wine cask influence and bold flavours. One thing that stuck out for me a little in a good way was something on the palate that reminded me of Maltesers, which I’ve picked up on a lot of the stuff I’ve tried from Golan Heights Distillery. And I love Maltesers.

This is a lovely whisky and a really fine example of what is starting to show up here from the local distillers. Very exciting times.